Pencil with sliding lead



Jim. 13,1931.

` R. M. CATA PENCIL WITH SLIDING LEAD Filed Junel 20. 1929 45" interior in a longitudinal direction,

Patented Jan. 13, 1931 RAMN MARPONS CATA, or' BARcizlt-oim, srArNT PENCIDWTH stimmte' I'QEAD Appiiationfiedaune 20, i929,- seriai-No'. 372,485, andan Germany octoberevneze.

The presentinventioiirefersto' pencils With sliding leads; Tliecomnion or customary pencils are conipos'edrof: a stick 'of graphita'orf oi graphitel aidclay, an'devenof caolin, or other material Whicliis'notnecessary' to specify, the saidV ystick beigcall'ed lead andbeing enclosed in" ai,cylindrical or prisrn'aticy covering', o Wood, which4v protects it, and gives body to' the pencil, thus makingit convenient to use. ii order toA uncover the lead of the pencil, or, as commonly said',`to sharpen the pencil, it' is necessary to` cutaway portions of the enclosing; Woochivith jthe object of allowing more'or' less ofthe'endof the'l'eadV to project, andthis portion must be suiiiciently pointed f to permitfthe lines traced bythe pencil -to be sufficiently fine. A

Tgliis operation of sharpening a' pencil,` 20 althoughA simple refquiressome ability anda certain amount of skill',l and 'in lany case it is diiiicul't' to obtain perfectl results.` i

For thisireason a great number ,of instru'-V ments andlmachines have been evolved to aliv tomaticallyr-lsecure properly sharpenedpoints;I but upto the present time, not even the rela-.

tively high pricedlones :haver given" practical and completely satisfactory resultsior vari-` A ouszreasons, which are also* unnecessary to gi analyze.

In View of'thevforegoing, the inventor, l

realizing how difficult it is to perfectly achieve the readyl removalA ofthewoodfwhich isrequisite Ain the above describedoperation-has conf at ceived.l the idea-ofproducing pencils made in such ayvayfthatenoughoithe lead may beI exposed Without {anyneed to remove any part' ofthe surroundingwvood which constitutesl x thejouter,coveringof the pencil.

4'0" Inorderte achieve'this5vthe lead,` instead of firmly' adhering t the surrounding-materialasy at present, isa body independentjof the said materialgand 'it lies ninit in-such a Way, that 'it caiibe made vto slide through the on being' given a slight push. The covering,` should referably have, in that part Where the end of the lead is to come out, a form converging `towards the center; for example a conical 56 form.

Eaclitiine'itis necessary to renew the point of thefpencil"I all that will be needed, is' to slightlypush' thelead at the endk opposite to thevpointed'pportion, by means of a wireor rod which is` introduced asiar as necessaryv into the channel or groove in which the lead@ is placed. p i y `To' complete the' operation oi sharpening. the' pencil, it will only be necessary to sharpen the lead, whichcan' be easilydone With a raspl. instrument', and there Will beno need to cut.'y away any Wood 'at all, va perfect point Ybeing'lobtainable Without this.'

,ln thea tacheddravvings is shown by Way. of example, a pencil arranged inaccordance Withy the object of the invention' showing:

VF 1, a? vertical section Lof a pencil with shiftable 'lead and means of holding the lead.y

Fig.l 2,'afcross section on a line perpendicular tothev Fig. 1, thefholding device `for the' inner endoi the lead bein'gfshown'in elevation n Fig. 3,i a perspective View of the holding' device ofiY the inner fend of the"'lead.

Figi il, afverticalsectionl of the proi'lectingj tube sliowingfthe'pusli rod in elevation and'v a device for' sharpening the; lead :of thepencil.

Fig: aA cross section ofthe'v spring 'that holdsv and supports the supplementary rod'.

The details ofy the drawings are las fol lowsc-'IA p d Y l'bo'dy of, theY penCiLQbor'e in the body l, 3"V the'le'ad',A 41;' holding device for the lead, M+-lb armsofthe springgijifV pivots Which'k the spring bear against thevv Walls of4 the-bore, 6 pint of thelpenc'il, 7 additionalA cap, 8 grooves in the cap, 9pu'sh rod, l0 pro? tectingg,"V tube, `11 support of the additional rod,'l2f additional rod, 13 holding spring for' the same, 14 sharpener, l5 holding yscrew for th'etsleevel, 17 yvvall dividing the sharpener from the rest'oi'tlie support.` n n In thediawingmay beseen the protecting cover made ofwood v"whichk has av groove or f channel atl 2, in Whichisplaced the lead 3" which can-slide along said-channel 2.

k'lheeiid' oi 'the' cover lhasa conical form,

and at thevertex' ,of 'the saine emergcsthe point ofthe lead 2; y i Behind the lead 3 a device i is arranged' stl" consisting of an elastic clamping spring with two pivots 5-5 holding it elastically in its place.

rlhis spring presses on the end of the lead in such a way that it cannot turn round or move back or sideways.

For greater convenience, and to avoid the conical end of the envelope of the lead getting dirty with use, in view of the fact that in the case of this kind of pencilthe wood must not be cut in order to give it a more aesthetic appearance, at the conical end of the pencil a device 7 can be provided, which presses on the point at its sides 8 8.

To malte the lead advance throughthe bore as it is worn, a device has been provided whichis composed of a protecting tube 10 whichV has a push rod 9 fixed in its centre.

Further an additional rod 12 has been provided, held inthe interior of the protecting tube 10 in the base 11 by means of the hold` ing spring 13.

To malte the lead go down through the bore the rod 9 is utilized, Xed in the protecting tube.- rlhis way of pushing down the lead is of the greatest importance, for it ensures the maximum convenience and security. All that need be done is to place the pencil in the protecting tube 10, and then the rod 9 is automatically introduced into the bore 12, when it will act on the lead through the pres-sure 'i hat can be exerted with the hand. In this wayl any person, even a child can make the lead of the pencil move withV the greatest facility. In all the other systems the contrary takes place, even those that have been conceived but which no one has put in execution, due, no doubt, to the diiiiculty of pushing the lead down with a wire rod or other similar object, for apart from the difficulty in finding the centre of the lead, due to the pressure it would be necessary to exert, the rod would bend and easily cause injuries to the hand. This -system would also be open to the objection that it would be very inconvenient to carry, especially for school children.

lVhen the rod 9 no longer reaches the lead,

the additional rod 12 is introduced, thisv rod being held bythe spring grip 13 yin the interior of the protecting tube l0 in the bore of the pencil, and thus the fixed rod 9 protected in the tube 10 will push the additional rod 12, and the lead can be made to emerge to the extent necessary everytime this is required, until it comes to an end.

Finally a means has been provided for sharpening the lead as required.

With this object there is at the end of the additional rod 12 opposite tothe support 11, a Sharpener 141.y This sharpener can be formed in different ways, and may be constructed as a cone, madeV of carborundum or other rasping material 14, which also carries a holding screw for the blade and the blade 16.

Another form of'construction would be, for example, a cone formed by a series of strips whose cutting edges touch the lead of the pencil and sharpen it by simple friction.

In the attached drawing yet another form of execution is shown of the Sharpener (Fig. 6) In this drawing will be seen a cone 14 made in one piece of metal or other appropriate material. In the interior of the cone there is a blade 16 held by a screw 15'. In the angle of inclination given to the blade 16 in relation to the other view of the cone a means is provided for giving the required degree of sharpness to the lead.

In the form of execution shown in the drawing there are included in the same -apparatus the protecting tube 10, the push rod 9, and the additional rod 12, with the sharpener 14, and this constitutes an enormous advantage which ensures that the Operations of pushing the lead through the bore and sharpening it be carried out by the simplest means, and this with an apparatus of the smallest size.

Meanwhile the actual manufacture of lead pencils consists in the formation of two half circles of wood or other suitable material which are glued and after putting the lead between them pressed together solidly. The manufacture of the pencils with sliding leads and especially with very thin lead `would be preferently performed otherwise.

The mode of manufacture would consist in forming also the two half circles and to joinr them by suitable means but instead of putting the lead in the channel so formed, there would be rods orV wires, of the same diameter as the lead had toV be placed between those two halves. After they have been tted together perfectly well, the rod orv wire is extracted and the lead introduced through the end part with great ease. The leads so introduced will have exactly the size needed and during the writing they will not move in any direction, but remain in their place.

lVhat I claim is A pencil with shiftable lead flattened on the inner end, comprising in combination a hollow body of the pencil, a metal clip having two armsr adapted to grip around the inner end of the lead guided in said hollow body and a locking element on each of said arms adapted to prevent the lead from sliding back into said body when the pencil is being used.

In testimony whereof I aiixmy signature.

RAMON MARroNs CATA 

